Metroid: Other M Review - Wii

Game Description: Metroid: Other M is Ninja Gaiden developer Team Ninja's take on one of gaming's most beloved franchises for this all new Metroid installment. Mixing third-person and first-person action, this highly polished take on the Metroid universe promises plenty of action, classic platforming, and a striking visual style. The Samus mythology is extended in Metroid: Other M.

Metroid: Other M Review

As the 11th game in the series, Other M is a bizarre collaboration between the Metroid series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto and Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden fame. Indeed, "odd pairings" becomes the common thread throughout the game and its clashing dualities extend to the storyline, control scheme and onscreen action.

The Pros

Secondary plotline is interesting, engaging

Graphics are very pretty

The Cons

Samus has more daddy issues than Montana Fishburne

Control layout is awkward and interrupts combat

All the game elements feel disjointed and not fully developed

As the 11th game in the series, Other M is a bizarre collaboration between the Metroid series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto and Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden fame. Indeed, “odd pairings” becomes the common thread throughout the game and its clashing dualities extend to the storyline, control scheme and onscreen action.

Time-wise, Other M is tucked in between fan-favorite Super Metroid and the critically beloved Metroid Fusion -- the first game that showed a hint of Samus's personal history and the introduction of Adam Malkovich, a core character in its newest iteration.

This makes Other M the second-to-last game sequentially, as the bulk of Metroid games have wedged themselves further and further into the early years of Samus Aran’s story. Ironically, Other M feels like a prequel to the franchise while attempting to be the culmination of everything Metroid has been and become.

But I’m a Bounty Hunter

In the world of Other M, Samus stumbles upon her old Galactic Federation squad mates while answering a distress call on a seemingly abandoned vessel. Among the people she encounters is her former captain, Adam Malkovich. In the most contrived manner possible, Samus loses her special abilities. How? She opts not to use them. Why? She wants to show Adam she can follow orders.

Yes, that’s right. The woman who in the first five minutes of the game gives the squad access to the ship by using her missiles is restricted from using her abilities -- some which could open a path or save her life in the future -- until a bland male character dictates it to her. She does this because she likes him, but only as a friend.

No matter what way you rationalize this mechanic, when you're 10 minutes into the lava sector and you can't use your Varia Suit yet, you will understand how painfully stupid this plot device is.

There are two plot lines to Other M. The first is a detailed trip through Samus's psyche, with emphasis on her weaknesses and vulnerability, as she is enveloped back into her old Galactic Federation squad. The second is a twisting tale of military obfuscation and betrayal that fits perfectly into the established universe. Unfortunately, most of the jarring choices used to characterize Samus stem from the first plot line, and the two stories can't be reconciled within one fell swoop.

In short, you're asked to forget that Samus has spent the last 10-15 years on solitary missions ridding the galaxy of Space Pirates, saving the universe and surviving on her own as a bounty hunter. Instead, Other M expects you to accept her as a submissive, child-like and self-doubting little girl that cannot possibly wield the amount of power she possesses unless directed to by a man.

What is presented would be a brilliant prequel to Metroid, documenting Samus as she departs the Galactic Federation and sets out on her own; however, at this point she could easily be considered a veteran with more combat experience than half the galactic army combined. The payoff to her self-doubting modus operandi is her becoming the powerful icon we have all loved since the NES though it's a great origin story and little more. And even then, there's the simpering VO work and narration that betrays all the aspirations of character development.

Yes, Samus uses the phrase “confession time” like a 12 year old girl scrawling in her Lisa Frank diary but really, the Alan Wake-meets-Lifetime Channel Original Movie narration gets old faster than you can say “daddy issues.” Until Other M, Samus has existed as a silent protagonist with only the personality that we have bestowed upon her in our own imaginations. Regardless of whether or not the interpretation in Other M can be reconciled with your own perception of her, there is a moment later in the game that cannot be justified…ever. Confronted by her longstanding nemesis, Ridley, she is spliced into flashes of a little girl, crying and afraid, despite the fact she has already defeated Ridley at least FOUR times already, once when he was a powerful robot. Terrible.

10 Things I Hate About This Game

Now, once the game is underway and the insipid cutscenes come to a thankful rest, a bevy of other problems arise. Other M forsakes the perfectly acceptable use of the Wii remote in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and adopts a control scheme that has the user holding the Wiimote sideways then pointing at the screen to use missiles or “scan” the environment. “Scan” is in quotation marks as the first person mode is also forced on the player in several illogical sequences when it doesn’t need to be because the scan dynamic is hardly used in the rest of the game. You’d never think to do it yourself as the environment offers almost nothing in the way of information.

If you didn’t resent the first person mode enough already, think about having to recalibrate your reticule every time you want to use a missile attack. Since most of the boss combat involves firing charge shots until you can find the time to go into first person mode and get a missile off, it gets old really fast. You also have to hope that the auto-targeting of Samus’s beam hits the right target, which is infrequent, even if there’s only one enemy on screen.

Perhaps even more egregious is the procedure for replenishing missiles and health. When either one is low, you can tilt the Wiimote up and press “A” to regenerate either one. This means stopping down completely mid-combat and that Samus can replenish missiles by thinking really hard. Miracles.

Can’t Hardly Wait…To Use My Super Missile

Even with the control problems, the combat isn’t all bad. The Ninja Gaiden-meets-Metroid action works when the auto-aim does (which is sometimes), and the close combat (though it seems to trigger arbitrarily) can be satisfyingly teen-rated fun. However, none of it is enough to make up for the puzzle solving.

The most satisfying part of the game came once the credit sequence rolled and I could go back for some proper Metroid-style exploration. You can’t actually revisit areas once you acquire abilities in the game because it would hinder the storyline, and thanks to needing Adam’s authorization to progress through each area, the line between “puzzle you can’t figure out” and “dead end” becomes increasingly blurry. Most of these situations involve backtracking till you hit a cut scene and earn your upgrade. Baffling.

Diary of a Wimpy Bounty Hunter

So, is it all as soul-crushingly terrible as it sounds? Yes, yes it is. There are some great moments in the secondary plotline, if you can turn off the volume and ignore Samus’s voice entirely, but that’s not really the point of the game. The point is to flesh out one of the most iconic (and nonsexualized) female characters in gaming history and yet the outcome is insulting to both Samus and her fans.

When she isn’t submissive and obedient, the flashbacks portray her as bratty and childish and the whole mess smacks of sexism. Almost every other aspect of gameplay including character design, sound and level design is mediocre. I’m sorry Metroid fans, because this isn’t what I wanted either. I also didn’t want to hear the phrase “fledgling girl’s heart” in anything but the phrase “I disintegrated the fledgling girl’s heart with a plasma beam,” but with Other M, no one gets what they want and half a good story with a smattering of acceptable decisions is far below the bar Nintendo has previously established for the series.

Comments are Closed

This review was a disappointment to me. First is based on the characters being rather than the game itself. Secondly is based on assumptions of what the reviewer thought her personality and feelings should be. Finally, this game may not be the best of the Metroid series, but is a good treat for those who started playing Metroid on NES or SNES. This reviewer should've focused on what this game proposes and on what people people can take out of this game which I personally enjoyed. Well, For it's was like playing a continuation of the Super Metriod which is on the top of Metroid best games. Needless to say that it's also on the top of SNES best games. That's it. That's my humble opinion about this.

EDIT: I mean, I know you mentioned the gameplay, but there should have been a much larger focus on gameplay. Your main argument was about the character, showing you have a much more personal view than an ethical one.

@CabadiahI find it a little odd that you use the term "fanboy" while saying that the game is "a bastardization of Metroid" and "anyone with loyalty to Metroid would have stopped playing". Apparently fanboyism only goes one way.

Her personality was shown in this game for the first time. You could hardly even say she had a character. Just because she always seemed badass, it never showed how she actually felt about what she was doing. Yeah, you can say she's been through hell and back. That doesn't mean she's going to break down or anything, but it doesn't mean nothing happened.

How you can just write off PTSD as "irrelevant" is beyond me. People can have various and unpredictable reactions to that.

Also, your entire argument is full of nothing but Samus's character. For a series built entirely on gameplay, a TRUE fan would surely give some mention.

I think most people who bashed Other M were used to the prime games, and didn't play much Metroid other than that. Also, the Prime trilogy was developed by Retro, and really has no emphasis on the main story arc, It is more of a "side-quest" to the main series, so people need to look at story progression as Metroid/Zero Mission, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Metroid Other M, and then Fusion. In no other game it was possible to truly develop Samus as a character, technology made it difficult. You definitely first saw some of her emotions through reading her monologues in Fusion, and in Japan there was an official Manga that went alongside Zero Mission. To be honest, Other M backs up a lot from the Manga. The truth is, Samus has been fighting the SAME RIDLEY up until Other M, that's right. I think Prime 3 made a plot hole in having Omega Ridley explode, because he returns in Super Metroid, which was out long before the first Prime. Through the Manga you learn that Ridley is capable of organic healing by devouring flesh, which explains how he is able to return fully healed.

As for Samus locking up when she saw Ridley, rather than blasting at hem immediately, there are several valid reasons. The most important one is the fact that Samus first encountered Ridley when he killed her mother in front of her eyes (her fhater dies at the same time destroying a space pirate ship while he was inside. the second time she encounters Ridley, she is in front of a Chozo elder and Mother Brain, and she locks up while Ridley laughs at her and mocks her about her parents being weak (yes he can talk in the manga) Mother Brain analyzes this as Samus having symptoms of PTSD or Post-traumatic stress disorder which is REAL, Witnessing her Mom die and shortly discovering everyone else including her Dad are dead, not to mention Ridley was about to kill her berfor her mom saved her by shoving her out of the way, caused Samus to develop PTSD, Which can randomly be triggered by re-encounter of the person or thing that caused it.

Also, at this point, Samus was %100 sure Ridley was dead, not only did she destroy him, but she blew up the entire plannet, when the GF cloned him not knowing what they were doing (as usual) and samus being emtionally unstable re-encountering Adam unexpectedly (she says so in the game) All this emotional tension and stress occurring because of the unexpected encounter, it would kind of make sense that she finally broke down when Ridley showed his face. Seeing the thing that killed her real family, that she had already gotten over because she thought he was dead. Caused her mind to race, she probably didn't know what to do. (she is still human after all, well, a human with the injected DNA of a chozo)

As for her "Daddy issues" because of her past with Adam, she wants him to see her differently, him being her third father figure, First being her real father, Second being one of the Chozo elders. She knows about GF protocol because she was once enlisted. Adam even stated in the game, that if she didn't follow orders, she would be treated as a possible threat to their mission. So as you proceed through the game it is as if Samus is once again in the Galactic Federation. Now there is something called the chain of command that is critical with the US Military. You are to follow the orders of your CO %100 of the time. Samus respected that and followed his orders. It is in no way sexist, Adams soldiers had to be authorized to use their equipment. I can understand Samus crying when Adam sacrificed himself to destroy the "Perfect Metroids" She was about to loose her "Father" for the third time!

I will admit I hated some aspects of gameplay, notably the "Where's Waldo sequences" and the fact that she had the Varia Suit all along, Fusion did a way better job of unlocking abilities and items, where samus had to get to a data station to download the upgrades, and she also absorbed them from bosses she defeated. That works much better than her having them all along. I also didn't like that it took place on an illegal abandoned reasearch facility, it made me feel confined as it was much less explorable. But overall the game was GREAT and the story was AMAZING!

For those of you who actually read this, you deserve a cookie, so go have one! Also if you are interested in the official manga, it has been translated to English here http://metroid.retropixel.net/ comics/metroidmanga/

And if the creator is going to stick with Team Ninja to make more future Metroid titles, please make Samus character more reasonable. She has been a tough bounty hunter since the very beginning but I'm fine with her having emotions since the fans had no idea of what kind of person she really was under that suit, but please don't let it go too far like that Ridley scene.....EVER AGAIN. -_- Also they should change some of the gameplay mechanics cause it did frustrated me especially in "inspection mode" cause you were stuck figuring out what to look for for like 5-10 minutes (atleast that's how long it took me). To be honest, I miss the prime series formula, but if this series have to depart from the old games then oh well...just put alot more effort into the gameplay to make it less frustrating. :)

But hey I'll have to admit, that Ridley scene went too far on Samus's character. It would've been better if she looked shock to see him alive for a little moment and then all of a sudden, she goes back into kick-butt mode! I would've been completely fine with that but instead they had to go overboard with it. That scene was just....pathetic so it ruined her image bad but not completely. Overall the game was a bit of a disappointment but still pretty fun for a Metroid game so I give it 4/5 stars. :)

Lord almighty, look at all these butthurt little fanboys and girls. Anyone that wanted a decent Metroid game was bitterly ignored with the development and release of this game, most of you contesting this review are merely entranced by it's "beautiful graphics" and cutscenes, and have never actually read a good book or watched a good movie or TV show before, since the dialogue and plot is so awful. And I'm loving that you keep acting as if being able to point out sexist undertones in a game makes you a feminist. I must be gay then, since I can usually tell when some guy going on a rant about being manly is a total homophobe. Totally inaccurate, but most baseless assumptions are.

This game was a bastardization of what Metroid was, it destroyed it's core gameplay and replaced it with a basic, overused, and totally boring set of linear hallways that lead to the next boss fight or cutscene. Any hint of survival that would have been present in a normal Metroid game is replaced by a surprisingly non-canonical gameplay element that never existed in Fusion, the Concentration bit. Then where did her Hyper Beam go? She got that from THE BABY and still lost it, as she does with all her other powers since the first three games, and none of you newcomers seemed to notice that, but you sure can bring up that horrible manga that was never released in North America, the main source of sales for the Metroid franchise, because everyone should know by now that sales for Metroid have been pretty terrible since the beginning, the fanbase is also pretty small.

Even with the so-called character development in the manga, anyone would have dismissed it as non-canon anyway, since it was full of Star Wars rejects and generic new species that otherwise don't exist in any other form of Metroid media. As well as an equally confusing characterization of Samus, one of her quotes basically reading that she "just wants to be human."

Sorry, but any small girl that saw her parents and friends get butchered by ruthless Space Pirates would want revenge after being physically conditioned and fitted with the most advanced suit of Power armor in the known universe. People trying to explain away her breaking down with PTSD are just straddling Sakamoto's jock, since it's totally irrelevant.

Anyway, anyone with any loyalty to Metroid would have stopped playing the game the minute they noticed that Samus now has a beauty mark that only Sakamoto knew about, which is a total bum-pull, and the fact they redesigned her Zero Suit to feature high-heel hoochie boots like she's some sort of interstellar go-go dancer, which she might as well be in this game since she spends more time on screen trying to be a woman than say, trying to do her job and save the galaxy.

This game is terrible, and if Nintendo ever wants to see Metroid live on, they will never speak of this abomination again. I'd rather Metroid die with dignity rather than be turned into something embarrassing like this again.

Lord almighty, look at all these butthurt little fanboys and girls. Anyone that wanted a decent Metroid game was bitterly ignored with the development and release of this game, most of you contesting this review are merely entranced by it's "beautiful graphics" and cutscenes, and have never actually read a good book or watched a good movie or TV show before, since the dialogue and plot is so awful. And I'm loving that you keep acting as if being able to point out sexist undertones in a game makes you a feminist. I must be gay then, since I can usually tell when some guy going on a rant about being manly is a total homophobe. Totally inaccurate, but most baseless assumptions are.

This game was a bastardization of what Metroid was, it destroyed it's core gameplay and replaced it with a basic, overused, and totally boring set of linear hallways that lead to the next boss fight or cutscene. Any hint of survival that would have been present in a normal Metroid game is replaced by a surprisingly non-canonical gameplay element that never existed in Fusion, the Concentration bit. Then where did her Hyper Beam go? She got that from THE BABY and still lost it, as she does with all her other powers since the first three games, and none of you newcomers seemed to notice that, but you sure can bring up that horrible manga that was never released in North America, the main source of sales for the Metroid franchise, because everyone should know by now that sales for Metroid have been pretty terrible since the beginning, the fanbase is also pretty small.

Even with the so-called character development in the manga, anyone would have dismissed it as non-canon anyway, since it was full of Star Wars rejects and generic new species that otherwise don't exist in any other form of Metroid media. As well as an equally confusing characterization of Samus, one of her quotes basically reading that she "just wants to be human."

Sorry, but any small girl that saw her parents and friends get butchered by ruthless Space Pirates would want revenge after being physically conditioned and fitted with the most advanced suit of Power armor in the known universe. People trying to explain away her breaking down with PTSD are just straddling Sakamoto's jock, since it's totally irrelevant.

Anyway, anyone with any loyalty to Metroid would have stopped playing the game the minute they noticed that Samus now has a beauty mark that only Sakamoto knew about, which is a total bum-pull, and the fact they redesigned her Zero Suit to feature high-heel hoochie boots like she's some sort of interstellar go-go dancer, which she might as well be in this game since she spends more time on screen trying to be a woman than say, trying to do her job and save the galaxy.

This game is terrible, and if Nintendo ever wants to see Metroid live on, they will never speak of this abomination again. I'd rather Metroid die with dignity rather than be turned into something embarrassing like this again.

Morgan Webb, Seems like alot of what you dont like about this game is how they characterize women, like having Samus constantly show off her ass. Yet arnt you pretty much famous for taking off your clothes for gaming mags/websites or maxim...

It's too bad this game turned out this way. I play 99.99% of my games on the PS3 and was looking forward to this game as I remember when it first came out. Yes I am that old. Women who are characters who kick butt should never be submissive in a game. You want them to be your neighbor girl friend who skate boards shoots her dad's or moms real guns at the range better than you do. So to see her portrayed this way plus the other faults of the game kept me from buying it. I even went so far as to buy a Wii just for this game. A review is a review. The numbers to mean something but I think even a better system would be just to score it based on actual worthy items.

1. Graphics reflect the mood and nature of the game, (improved from previous title or better than similar game). 2. Controls work as they should for this type of game and controller system involved. Is a mouse type required for FPS etc.3. Has a great story line that evokes emotions in the player and causes player to want to finish the game based on the story. 4 Game has a great scoring system. 5. Does not crash and burn. 6. Can be adjusted for the hardness of play. 7. Causes the player to think and solve problems. 8. Music and sound effects are included where they need to be not too loud or soft. 9. Load times reflect for the type of game played. If load screens to appear then helpful information and music are in the cut scene to keep the player engaged. 10. Bugs and faults can be reported in an easy fashion11. Does the game live up to what is previously advertised? 12. The rating of the game matches what you expected. M nudity, blood guts etc.13. Is the game controversial? They seem to get us excited just because we are not supposed to have it then we are either happy with it or let down. This can be tied to number 11.14. Does the amount of game play time match up to previous titles or similar games. 15. The game was worth the money spent at the time of purchase. 16. Does the game have achievements or trophies, etc.17. It comes with a booklet that gets you started fairly quickly.18. The game gives you some type of learning curve before the hard part begins19. The game is released they they say it is going to be.20. It is offered up as a beta before it releases to everyone.21. Is a collectors edition offered? Were the items included worth the extra cost?22. Are in game Exclusive items later offered to everyone. Then they are not exclusive and youv'e been lied too.23. Is there online support offered for the game. Not just blogs or boards but a real email address you can write to about problems.24. Does the game allow you to save at any point in the game? 25. Were you the player happy with the game?26. Do you get to play more than one character type? Example: soldier, sniper, mage, rogue etc. 27. Can you play as male or female? In today's world it should be standard to play as either.28. Does the game allow you to turn down gore and swear words if you so choose.29. Character design is good or bad. e.g. Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2, etc.

I am sure there are other items I have forgotten but All of these should be included in reviews. We shell out $60 normally for a new game or more and we as consumers deserve respect from developers/producers and reviewers/critics. We all love games and that is why we are here in the first place seeking quality information about the game we are interested in.

30. Last but not leased did you enjoy the game as a whole?

If you break down this scoring system it seems to be about 3.3 points for each item to get us close to a 100 point system. I think the higher the scoring system the better, but who am I just a consumer who loves games and the folks at G4 who are trying their best to inform us about what we want most, a game that ROCK's!!

It's stuff like Other: M that makes me question why I'm even in the industry. Someone goes and makes something this offensively bad and they are lauded for it. Why should I want to try to make something meaningful, when people will actually argue that there is something valuable in games like this?

The same type of person, I assume who wonders why mainstream media doesn't consider video games an art form. The phrase "pearls before swine" comes to mind.

Anyways, when I get to the point that I'm thinking stuff like this, it's nice to see a review that gets it. Hence, I am actually quite interested to see more of this site and this reviewer especially.

Popped over here because I read on the PAX East 2011 Schedule about the stinging remarks that proliferated. I am a Metroid fan. In fact, just about anyone who's known for any decent amount of time know how annoying I can get when I go on about "Super Metroid" was the perfect game and that nothing can touch it. I've played through at least a dozen times and I've peeped many of the hacks and re-designs. And even though it was a departure from the 2D platforming I enjoyed so immensely, I even dug "Metroid: Prime". To say the least, I was excited for "Metroid: The Other M". But after actually playing, I think it is horrendous and it's an insult not only to Metroid fans, but disrespectful to Wii players in general.

But what I find more horrendous is the way consumers who actually 'enjoyed' the game come on here, as they usually do, and regress into a 2-year-old frame of mind, throwing temper tantrums, thumbs-downing, spewing insulting bile of a vile manner, indescribable.

I ought to know better, that comments sections rarely yield to any genuine discourse, but there's always a flickering hope that people will be able to grow up and contribute something of worth to conversations. Instead, I am ashamed by the sheer number of anons who think it's cool and acceptable to erect grotesque barriers of nonsensical trash.

I didn't think it was such a bad game. I thought it was pretty good but that besides needing authorization to use stuff I already have and the over blown electra complex, there were some little things that annoyed me. The path forward not always being clear, some enemies respawning even when they previously never would, and Samus' Power Suit being more form fitting. I think the Power Suit actually shrank and for some reason the Zero Suit suddenly has high heels? Now you know something's wrong when someone as battle-conscious as Samus goes into combat with improper footwear. I don't understand why the Zero Suit was redesigned.

I want to start off by saying that I almost always go by what you and everbody at X-Play say about games and I usually use your reviews and opinions when I buy games. But this time I think you and the others at X-Play are dead wrong about this game. Metroid: Other M may not be the greatest Metroid gamer ever made (that spot is reserved for Super Metroid and Metroid Prime) but it still is an awesome game. First off, the graphics are some of the best I've seen on the Wii and plot is interesting and shows her vunerable side. It also makes her more of a human than a robot and I didn't see her whining at all like Abbey had said. Second, the controls are easy to get the hang of and I had no problems pointing the Wii Remote at the screen to shoot missles. The point I'm making is the game is much better than what ya'll made it out to be and deserves a 4 out of 5. Finally, I think it's wrong of you all to put it on the Golden Mullet Awards.

It's kinda sad how many people evidently came to this review expecting it to verify their own ideas of what the game is like. I've disagreed with reviews before, and my response is generally not to throw a temper tantrum and accuse the reviewer of being-gasp!-a feminist. The fact that you think "feminist" is is an insult is rather telling, actually.